Sedona is in Red Rock Country, part of the Coconino National Forest, which has a wealth of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Today the weather was hot and sunny and we thought it was a great day to explore some of them. The first thing we did was stop at a Sedona information centre to purchase a pass that would allow us to park at any of the trailheads in the area. A daily pass is $5, a weekly pass is $15 and a Golden Eagle Hologram that we could add to our existing National Park Pass is also $15 but it gives us access to all National Forests across the states for a year. Needless to say, we bought the hologram.

We decided we would start our hike at the area of the Bell Rock, the first big rock formation we saw when we arrived in Sedona on Saturday. Once we parked the car and entered the area we had several trails to choose from and we chose the "Courthouse Butte" trail which took us 4.2 miles around the Bell Rock and the Courthouse Butte over dry wash areas, desert brush and wilderness. It is considered to be a moderate hike, with part of it in a designated wilderness area closed to mountain biking, making it a lot less populated than some of the other trails. We noticed how the "complexion" of each formation changed completely as we viewed them from a different direction.

We returned to the car after our hike, hot and hungry so we went into the nearby village of Oak Creek, adjacent to Sedona for lunch. We then drove into Sedona to wander through some of the shops in an area we hadn't explored when we were here on Monday. Our leg muscles reminded us that we had been hiking earlier in the day so we headed back to the motorhome to relax for the evening. We'd had a great day being able to get "up close and personal" with the red rocks of Sedona.